fir 



i.^S-' 






MAJOR GENERAL 



GEORGE H. THOMAS 



^+^:=g'^gfcT+* 






m 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



Chap..-.^Akl. 
Shelf - 



;^3^ 



UNITED STATES OF AMEEIOA. 



With the Compliments of 



WILLIAM H. LAMBERT. 



Mutual Lifi- Kuilding, 
Philadelphia. 



MAIOR (GENERAL 



GEORGE H. THOMAS 



AN ADDRESS 



WILLIAM H. LAMBERT. 




¥H I LADKLPHIA : 

John H. Ci'lbehtson & Co., Printers. 

iS8o. 






FIFTY COPIES PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBl'TIOX. 



No. ^^ ^ 



The following address was delivered at Lancaster, on the 29th day 
of May (Decoration Day), 1880, before George H. Thomas Post, No. 84, 
Department of Pennsylvania, Grand Army of the Republic. 



In spite of the magnitkent achievements of Grant and Sherman, it is 
probable that General Thomas will always be, in the estimation of those 
who fought under him, and in the sober judgment of history, the Model 
Soldier of the War. His fame rests upon something besides his brilliant 
services and great warlike capacity ; no other General presents such a shining 
example of military success, illustrating a grand heroic temper and an 
exquisite personal character. — Ar7«/ York TrihiDie, A'i>-'i-/ii/'rr //, /S/Q. 



MAIOR GHNKRAL r,l^:ORGR H. THOMAS. 



Ill January, 1861, GEOR(iE H. Thomas, wlio liad served his 
country actively during the previous twenty years, was 
the senior Major of the Second Cavah-y, of which regiment 
Albert Sidney Jounsxon was Colonel, Lee Lieutenant-Colonel. 
Van Dorn junior Major ; and Kirby Smith, Hood, and Fitz 
Hugh Lee were among the line officers. 

A Virginian by birth, bound to his native state by ties 
strong and influential, the outbreak of the war brought to 
Thomas, as it brought to many another army officer of South- 
ern birth, great trial — trial to which hundreds proved unequal; 
but he was among the few who esteemed their country gi'eater 
than their state; who felt that their oath of fealty to the 
Government was as binding against treason as it was to 
service against a foreign foe. 

"I have thought it all over and I shall stand tirm in 
the service of the Government '" was his determination — a 
decision never to l)e recalled — and as heretofore he had been 
faithful, so henceforth he continued his allegiance to the Nation 
whose uniform he wore. Nor was his loyalty of the sickly 



6 

sort, so familiar at tlie opening of the war, but from first to 
last it was genuine and whole-hearted, and throughout the 
long struggle the country had no servant more devoted, no 
soldier more patriotic than this Virginia General. 

Through the defection of liis immediate superiors Johnston 
and Lee, he was promoted to the Colonelcy of his regiment, 
and in June, isiil, in command of a brigade, he crossed the 
Potomac and rendered his first active service during the Rebel- 
lion on the soil of his native state. 

Appointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers in August, he 
was assigned to duty in Kentucky, and thenceforward was 
connected with the Western army. Associated with the Army 
of the Cumberland from its origin, mustering into the service its 
first brigade, he continued with that army to the close of the 
war, when he mustered out its several corps at Louisville. 
Participating in all its campaigns, taking principal or active 
part in all its battles, the relation between the Army of the 
Cumberland and General Tuomas was of peculiar intimacy 
and affection. 

At Mill Springs in January, 18G2, General Thomas struck 
the key note of his career, for the success he there achieved was 
the initiative of an unljroken series of victories which con- 
tinued until the closing battle at Nashville. Compared with 
the great battles which followed ere the year ended, this action 
now seems insignificant, but remembering that it was the first 
important victory of our land forces to break the dispiriting 
inaction which followed Ball's Bluff, its value in encouraging 
the army and the people cannot be overestimated ; nor were its 
material results insignificant, for it dispersed the rebel Army 



of Kentucky and secured that state to the cause of the Govern- 
ment. 

In the operations about Corinth he commanded the right 
wing of the Army of the Tennesbee ; at the battle of Perry ville 
he was second in command of the Army of the Ohio, and in 
the reorganization of that army under Rosecrans, he was 
assigned to the command of the centre. 

At Stone River, General Thomas, bore an important part, 
and tlie triumph with which that battle ended after two days 
of hard fighting, was largely due to his prudence and courage. 

Commanding the Fourteenth corps he contributed much to 
the success of the campaign of I860 which carried our army from 
Murfreesboro' to Chattanooga. And when Bkauc, obedient to 
the commands of the alarmed authorities at Richmond, turned 
at last upon the adversary who had forced him from the banks 
of the Cumberland to beyond the Tennessee, and with ranks 
strengthened by accessions from Virginia and Mississippi burst 
upon the separated corps of Rosecrans, it was Thomas who 
saved the Army of the Cumberland and frustrated the rebel 
attempt to recover Chattanooga. The onset which swept the 
right and centre in confusion from the field carrying with them 
in rout the conjmander of the ai'my and the cojumanders of two 
of his corps, was powerless to drive the lett where Thomas stood 
at bay. Gathering about him the troops remaining on the 
field he withstood the repeated assaults of the doubly out- 
numbering foe. The fast thinning line grew stronger as con- 
tracting it drew nearer to its "centre and soul;'" fighting 
under the very eye of the leader, it was inspired by his 
indomitable will and imperturliable courage to deeds of 



gallantry worthy of hini ami of Lis men. Hour after hour, tlie 
storm of battle raged in relentless fury, threatening at times 
to submerge, but failing utterly to move the Rock of 
Chickamauga. 

Chattanooga was saved and the results of the summer's 
campaign secured by Thomas' magnificent stand at Chicka- 
mauga; but a new danger threatened the Artny of the Cum- 
berland. Separated from its base of supplies by one hun- 
dred and fifty miles of hostile country ; its only communica- 
tion a dilapidated railroad open to the frequent raids of the 
enemy's cavalry ; pent in the little town by the rebel line which 
stretched along the amphitheatre of hills, each ilank resting 
upon the Tennessee, starvation or the abandonment of the 
town seemed inevitable. And when Grant was appointed to 
the command of tlie Western armies, so imminent did he deem 
the peril, that he telegraphed to Thojias, now the commander 
of the Army of the Cumberland, " Hold Chattanooga at all 
hazards." The immediate reply, made with full knowledge of 
the import of the words was, " We will hold the town till we 
starve." But Tuomas did not supinely await the impending- 
fate, for within a few days after his accession to the command, 
he had executed plans which relieved his army from its 
dangerous condition. 

In the battles of November, which raised the siege of 
Chattanooga and relieved Burnside at -Jvnoxville, Thomas' 
command more than retrieved ('hickamauga. In glorious array 
its long lines swept over the intervening plain up the slopes 
of Missionary Ridge, driving the foe from his entrenchments, 
whilst on the right, the troops from the ['otomac, now 



and henceforth part of the Cumberland army, scaled the 
heights of Lookout, and crossing the valley beyond, forced the 
enemy back into Georgia. 

In the spring campaign of 1864, Thomas' army comprised 
three-fifths of Sherman's active command, and his guns thun- 
dering against the rocky defences of Dalton began the four 
months of fighting which ended when at Jonesboro' his troops 
captured Atlanta. And when Sherman, pondering the 
problem of utilizing his victoi-y, and being aided to speedy 
solution by Hood's northward movement, determined upon the 
March to the Sea, it was to Thomas he entrusted the task of 
confronting the enemy who had so long and so stubbornly 
resisted the combined armies of the Ohio, Tennessee and 
Cumberland. 

How great was the trust, how vital to the Nation, how 
important to Sherman its successful execution, may be con- 
ceived if we imagine the result, bad Thomas proved unequal to 
the task. Had he failed, the fruits of the Chattanooga and 
Atlanta campaigns — fruits garnered at tremendous cost — 
would have been completely wasted, whilst between Hood's 
legions and the North, onl_y the Ohio would have interposed. 
Had Thomas failed, Sherman, instead of being pronounced 
the most brilliant of our Generals, would have been judged the 
most hopelessl}' incompetent ; the great march would have 
been the farce of our history had it not indeed have proved its 
darkest tragedy. But the trust was not greater than the man 
to whom it was given, failure had not yet been written against 
any undertaking of his, and it never was to be. Hence, when 
Sherman reached the sea, it was to learn that his coastward 



10 

march had been approved by Thomas' entire success, and with 
natural exultation he issued his order declaring the armies 
serving in Georgia and Tennessee alike entitled to the common 
honors, and authorizing each regiment to inscribe on its colors, 
at will, either Savannah or Nashville ; a concession, however 
valued by the men who shared the pleasures of the holiday 
march through Georgia, not so highly esteemed by the men 
who fought at Franklin and at Nashville. 

The forces with which General Thomas was to encounter 
Hood comprised two of the six corps which had made the 
Atlanta campaign, two divisions which were to come from 
Missouri, the garrisons of the various posts along the Chatta- 
noo2:a road and the convalescents and furloughed men eii route 
to their several commands. Ordering the concentration of his 
troops at Nashville as soon as the plans of Hood had been 
developed, Thomas calmly awaited his opportunity, perfecting 
his arrangements and organizing his army, purposing not 
merely the repulse of the enemy but his utter defeat. 
Day after day passed in apparent inaction, his adversary 
meanwhile pressing close upon the entrenchments of the town^ 
but each day was making Thomas' preparations more thorough 
and adding to his effective strength. Misunderstanding the 
causes of the delay, not appreciating the difficulties attending 
the organization of an army in the presence of a numerically 
superior foe, and above all, failing to appreciate the character 
of Thomas, the authorities at Washington and the Lieutenant 
General grew impatient and telegraphed again and again 
urging immediate action. Knowing the issues involved, com- 
prehending the situation with all its surroundings. General 



11 

Thomas was not shaken in his purpose by the vexation and 
importunities of his superiors, nor by the tlireatened removal 
from command. " I can only say that I have done all in my 
power to prepare, and if you sliould deem it necessary to relieve 
me, I shall submit without a murmur." Resolute in his con- 
viction of duty, he postponed aggressive movements until his 
matured judgment assured him the hour for action had come. 
Meanwhile, so great was the impatience of General Grant 
that he left City Point en route for Nashville, only to learn at 
Washington that Thomas had moved upon the enemy with 
results which more than justified his deliberation and which 
forever vindicated his judgment. 

With an army " hastily made up from the fragments of 
three separate commands,'' (tEneral Thomas had contended 
successfully '• against a force numerically greater than" his own 
" and of more thoroughly solid organization," and had inflicted 
upon it a defeat so crushing as to be a virtual annihilation. 

The Army of the Cumberland, which had fought its first 
battle under Thomas among the hills whose name it bore, 
which had won Chattanooga on the Tennessee, which had 
penetrated far into Georgia and taken Atlanta at Jones- 
boro', had turned back at last to its earlier fields, and under the 
same great leader, swept an army out of being at Nashville on 
the Cumberland. 

So complete was the victory- that no formidable force of 
the enemy remained to engage General Thomas' army, and 
the larger part of his infantry was transferred to eastern fields, 
whilst his cavalry swe2>t east, west and south in the vain en- 
deavor to find an organized foe. So thoroughly had the harv^est 
been garnered that nought remained for the gleaners. 



12 

The enemy had vanished, and the war was ended in the 
Department of the Cumberland. 

During thetroublousyears which followed the war, General 
Thomas held important commands, tuanifesting the same fidelity, 
firmness and discretion which had characterized his whole 
career. IIow well he api^reciated the difliculties in the work 
of reconstruction is evidenced by tlie forcible declaration with 
which he closed his report for the year 1868. 

" The controlling cause of the unsettled condition of afhiirs 
in the department is, that the greatest efforts made by thedefeated 
insurgents since the close of the war have been to promulgate 
the idea that the cause of liberty, justice, humanity, equality, 
and all the calendar of the virtues of freedom, suft'ered violence 
and wrong when the eflfbrts for Southern independence failed. 
This is, of course, intended as a species of political cant, 
whereb}' the crime of treason might be covered with a 
counterfeit varnish of patriotism, so that the precipitators of 
the rebellion might go down in history hand in hand with the 
defenders of the Government, thus wiping out with their own 
hands their own stains; a species of self-forgiveness amazing 
in its efirontery, when it is considered that life and property — 
justly forfeited by the laws of the country, of war, and of 
nations — through the magnanimity of the Government and 
people, were not exacted from them." 

Transferred in May, 1869, to the command of the Military 
Division of the Pacific, General Thomas died at San Francisco 
on the 28th day of March, 1870. 



13 



From July 1, 1836, when he entered the Academy at West 
Point, to the day of his death, General Thomas contumed in 
the military service of his country, passing through every 
grade, from Second-Lieutenant to Major-General. 

He shrank from no duty, however arduous or distasteful ; 
he asked no favors, he sought no advancement; the protege of 
no politician, the favorite of no party, he earned every step of 
his promotion by faithful, intelligent, able service. 

Not only did he never seek advancement, he refused to 
accept it when he believed it involved injustice to others, or 
when it came in any form other than as the earned reward of 
duty. In 1862, he declined the protfered command of the Army 
of the Ohio, urging the retention of General Buell, and in 
1868, when the brevet commission of Lieutenant-General was 
tendered him by President Johnson, he declined it, because 
not having received it during the war, he considered that he 
had done nothing since to warrant it. 

He steadfastly refused to receive the presents wherein 
his admirers sought to give expression to their regard. 
Plate, money, houses, were alike persistently declined; not 
because fortune had so favored him as to render the 
proffered gifts of no moment to him, nor because he failed to 
appreciate the kindly motives which prompted the tender, but 
because his sense of honor prohibited him from accepting any 
compensation for doing his duty other than that which attached 
to his position. In 1865, learning that it was the purpose of 
some of his friends to raise a large sum of money to be given 
him as an expression of their gratitude for his military 
services, he immediately wrote as follows to the author of the 
testimonial : 



14 

" While I am duly and profoundly sensible of the high 
couipliraent thus proposed to be paid me, I would greatly 
pi'efer, and if not premature suggest that any sum which may 
be raised for that purpose be devoted to the founding of a 
fund for the relief of disabled soldiers, and of the indigent 
widows and orphans of officers and soldiers who have lost their 
lives during this war. I am amply rewarded when assured that 
my humble services have met with the approbation of the 
government and the people." 

Appreciating the approbation of his official superiors, and 
not insensible to the praise of the people he courted neither. 

Keenly sensitive to injustice, be never allowed slight or 
wrong to deflect him from his duty. He served to-day as 
loyally under the man he yesterday cf>mmauded as though he 
had never known the change. He beheld his junior in yeai's, 
in rank and in service, his own long-time subordinate chosen 
before him to high honor, and though his great heart felt the 
wound, no sense of personal injury ever swerved him from his 
devotion. Not once, not twice, but always, not for him- 
self but for his country. 

Simple and modest he shunned notoriety, and never sought 
to magnify his achievements. No eecentrieities of character 
made him the frequent subject of anecdote and jest ; no swelling 
phrases and pompous declarations announced intention in 
advance of performance, and no special correspondent attached 
to head-quarters was charged with the duty of writing up his 
deeds and filling the press with statements of his views, 
purposes and plans. His actions were ever louder than his 



15 

words. He girded on the harness never to put it off, and 
boasted himself — never. 

Grave and dignified, he tolerated no unsoldierly familiari- 
ties ; he resorted to no theatrical expedients to gain favor 
with his troops. 

Kind and considerate, he revealed his love for his men not 
by relaxing discipline, not by effusive proclamation, but by 
watchful care for their well-being and by jealous regard for 
their fame. They loved him for what he was with devotion, 
resulting from confidence in his ability and from faith in 
his integrity. Their affection displayed itself, not in swing- 
ing of hats and in hearty hurrahs as he rode along the 
lines, but in the soldierly position instinctively assumed, and 
the soldier's salute instinctively given in the presence of the 
leader they revered and loved, and that aft'ection had its highest 
attestation in the unbounded trust each man reposed in the 

General. 

Valuing the lives of his men he never sacrificed them in 
tentative movements to satisfy the popular demand for action 
or to fancied necessity for the improvement of their morale ; 
but no regard for their lives or for his own ever lessened the 
vigor of his assault or the tenacity of his defence when the 
Nation's life demanded sacrifice. 

Painstaking and exact, he neglected no details however 
apparently trivial when upon them might rest the issue of a 
battle, and he assumed no risk against which care and precaution 
could guard. 

Systematic and thorough, his victories were neither suc- 
cessful experiments nor lucky accidents, but the logical result 



16 

of deliberate plan and of effective execution; his battles were 
not games of hazard, but problems successfully solved. 

Prudent in judgment he was powerful in action. Slow 
and deliberate in thought, decision formed, manifested itself in 
prompt and energetic accomplishment. 

Firm in his convictions of right he was unyielding in his 
adherence to duty, whether resisting the assault of a rebel 
army, as at Chickamauga, or withstanding the pressure of 
impatient superiors and the anxiety of an alarmed people as at 
Nashville. 

Self-controlled in camp, on march and in field, he was 
unimpassioned alike in the flush of victory or in the gloom of 
threatened defeat ; unmoved by injustice to himself, he was yet 
capable of a mighty wrath when wrong to others, or reckless 
exposure of troops, or cowardice, provoked his righteous 
indignation. 

His aftections, though undemonstrative, were strong and 
true, and they who were honored by his friendship had ample 
proof of its sincerity. 

Heroic in form and feature — fitting embodiment of the 
man — his presence inspired the confidence and respect which 
his great qualities maintained, for notliing in his private life 
or character detracts from his soldierly merits or clouds his 
well-earned fame. iSTo weakness or pettiness belittles him. 
Admiration for his character grows with increasing familiarity 
with his life, hence those who knew him best loved him 
most. 

Clean and pure, brave and skillful, honest and magnani- 
mous, he was in truth without fear and without reproach. 



17 

Complete and symmetrical, his character combines all the 
virtues and graces which unite in the great soldier and true 
gentleman, for such in fullest measure and in highest degree 
was General Thomas. 



General Thomas gained high military rank, and it is 
possible, nay, even probable, that had his life been spared he 
would have attained the highest office in the N"ation's gift. 

In the history of the war it is recorded that he saved an 
army at Chickamauga, that he destroyed the army of his enemy 
at Nashville. 

In the Nation's capital the soldier.s he commanded have 
erected a magnificent memorial of their magnificent leader ; 
and the noble figure steadfastly gazing across the historic river 
to the hills of his native Virginia shall mutely tell the story of 
his life to the generations yet to come. 

But higher than the highest rank, greater than his greatest 
achievement, grander than the artist's grand conception, more 
enduring than its bronze, more solid than its granite, is the 
character of the man. When the history of the war shall have 
ceased to interest any save the student, when the bronze figure 
shall have corroded, and the granite pedestal crumbled to dust, 
the influence of that life shall still endure, and loyalty, honor 
and duty shall have had no higher embodiment than in the life 
and character of 

GEORGE H. THOMAS. 



APPENDIX. 



21 



GEORGE HENRY THOMAS. 



Born in Southampton County, Virginia, on the 
31st day of July, 1816. 

Cadet at the United States Military Academy, 
July 1, 1836 to July 1, 1840. 

Second Lieutenant Third Artillery, 
July 1, 1840. 

Brevet First-Lieutenant 
For gallantry and good conduct in the war against the Florida Indiana, 

November 6, 1841. 

First-Lieutenant Third Artillery, 
April 30, 1844. 

Brevet Captain 

For gallant conduct in the several conflicts at Monterey, Mexico, 

September 23, 1846. 

Brevet Major 
For gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Buena Vista, Mexico, 

February 23, 1847. 

Captain Third Artillery, 
December 24, 1853. 

Major Second Cavalry, 
May 12, 1855. 



22 

Lieutenant-Colonel Second Cavalry, 
April 25, 1861. 

Colonel Second (subsequently Fifth) Cavalry, 
May 3, 1861. 

Brigadier-General United States Volunteers, 
August 17, 1S61. 

Major-General United States Volunteers, 
April 25, 1802. 

Brigadier-General United States Army, 
October 27, 1863. 

Major-General United States Army, 
December 15, 1864. 

The thanks of Congress tendered to him and his command "for their skill 
and dauntless courage, by which the rebel army, under General 
Hood, was signally defeated and driven from the State of Tennessee," 

March 3, 1865. 

The thanks of the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee presented 
to him and his command " for his wise and spirited, and their brave 
and patriotic conduct in the battle of Nashville, in defence of the 
capital of the State, in December, 1864," 

November 2, 1S65. 

Gold Medal, commemorating the battle of Nashville, voted by the Gene- 
ral Assembly of the State of Tennessee, presented to him, 
December 15, 1866. 

Died at San Francisco, California, on the 
28th day of March, 1870. 



